UN Heads of Police share best experiences in Addis to boost police keeping

1 Aug 2018 - 11:50

UN Heads of Police share best experiences in Addis to boost police keeping

"Peacekeeping faces many challenges, the launch of the Action for Peace initiative (A4P) is an opportunity to address such circumstances." That was from Luis Carrilho the United Nations Police Advisor in his address to the third UN missions Heads of Police Components (HOPC) retreat in Addis Ababa.

Hosted by UNISFA in partnership with the United Nations Office of the African Union (UNOAU) and the Ethiopian Federal Police from 31 July to 2 August , the three day retreat serves as an information and experience sharing platform.

The retreat brings together experts UN police experts from UN Headquarters, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) , the United Nations Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNISFA), the United Nations-African Union Hybrid Force in Darfur (UNAMID), the United Nations Organization Stabilization mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), Officials from the UNOAU, the African Union and the Standing Police Capacity.

In his opening remarks, Luis Carrilho highlighted his expectations for increased cooperation between UN missions in the region, improved cooperation with AU partners and ultimately a more effective and efficient mandate implementation of missions and policing.

Speaking on the first day of the retreat, Commissioner Zeynu Jamal, Commissioner General of Ethiopian Federal Police urged discussions to focus on expediting peace processes in South Sudan and vowed Ethiopia would work on increasing its presence in peacekeeping policing activities

During the three day retreat discussions will include action for peace, prevention, capacity building, mediation, response, addressing root causes and strengthening partnerships to resolve conflicts.

The "Action for Peace" initiative (A4P) was launched by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at a Security Council High-Level Debate on 28 March. The initiative will focus its efforts in three areas: refocusing peacekeeping with realistic expectations; making peacekeeping missions stronger and safer; and mobilizing greater support for political solutions and for well-structured, well-equipped, well-trained forces.